More than 921 blood drives have been canceled within the Missouri-Arkansas and parts of Illinois regions resulting in 25,830 fewer blood donations, says Joe Zydlo, who handles biomedical field marketing and communications for the American Red Cross Blood Services. About 60 percent of the canceled drives have been in the greater St. Louis region.
“Thanks to the community stepping up and agreeing to host a drive, we’ve been able to stabilize the blood supply. So, we no longer have an ongoing critical need,” Zydlo says. But just because they’ve met their immediate needs, it still doesn’t mean they will be able to continue doing so. “Due to the uncertainty of the pandemic and cancellations we’ve already had, we are trying to ensure a stable supply throughout the pandemic.”
According to Zydlo, the Red Cross is worried these cancellations will eventually catch up to them, so they are encouraging people who have not donated to donate later this month or in early May. “We cannot stockpile blood donations and save them for May and June,” Zydlo explains. “Blood is a perishable product. 42-day shelf life for blood and five-day shelf life for platelets.”
The Red Cross relies on volunteer blood drives to provide enough blood for life-saving situations. To help with the ongoing need, the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Blues agreed to host blood drives at Busch Stadium on April 21 and Enterprise Center on April 24, Zydlo says.
Zydlo, Mary Jane Thomsen, the executive director for the greater St. Louis Area chapter, and Sharon Watson, chief communications and marketing officer for the Red Cross understand people may be tentative because of COVID-19 and because of the first St. Louis death, Jazmond Dixon, was an employee of the local Red Cross chapter.
“We are saddened by losing our employee, Jazmond,” Thomsen says. “Our thoughts and sympathies are with her family. Our staff is heartbroken. We’re also thinking of those others who’ve also been diagnosed with COVID-19.”
Dixon “didn’t come into contact with donors or the public. While there are no known exposure risks to donors who have visited the center, we just want to emphasize that donating blood is a safe process and our staff readily adheres to the highest standards of safety and infection control,” says Thomsen.
“There is no data or evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted by blood transfusion,” says Watson, “and there have been no reported cases of transmissions for any respiratory virus, including this coronavirus, worldwide.”
The Red Cross, because it is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), follows the FDA’s process in managing medication. In light of COVID-19, they’ve enhanced their safety protocols:
- They check the temperature of staff and donors before entering a drive.
- They provide hand sanitizer for use before the drive, and throughout the donation process.
- They space beds, where possible, to follow social distancing practices between blood donors.
- They increase enhanced disinfecting of surfaces and equipment including routinely wiping down donor-touched areas.
- They follow through on already established safety protocols to prevent the spread of any type of infection at each blood drive and donation center. This includes wearing gloves and changing them often.
- Thomsen adds that they plan to “stagger their appointments further apart to reduce the number of people at the drive at one time.”
Additionally, Watson asks people to please postpone their donation for 28 days if:
- They were diagnosed with COVID-19, or were in contact with a person who has it, or is suspected to have it.
- They traveled to China, Hong Kong, Macau, Iran, Italy, or South Korea.
“We are grateful for the public for turning out to help to stock our hospital shelves but the crisis isn’t over,” Thomsen says. “We really do stress the need to make an appointment in the days and weeks to come to make the experience for our donors very comfortable.”
If you want to donate, go to redcrossblood.org the Red Cross Blood Donor app, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enable the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device to make an appointment or for more information.
